RESULTS OF IRANIAN ELECTIONS WELCOMED BY WORLD COMMUNITY
TEHRAN 19TH Feb. (IPS) Latest results from the Iranian legislative elections held yesterday confirms the victory of the reformists, with Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, 40, the younger brother of President Mohammad Khatami and several other prominent moderate candidates like Dr. Alireza Nouri, the 39 years-old brother of the jailed hojatoleslam Abdollah Nouri being already elected.
Sources close to the Interior Ministry also confirmed that voters dealt a serious blow to both the former president ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and his young daughter, Mrs. Fa'ezeh Hashemi, with both father and daughter needing probably a second round to make their way into the next 290 seats Majles.
"In the house of Mr. Rafsanjani, the mood is like in a mourning. It is the great desolation. The shock is so terrible that no one realises what has happened", one Tehran resident told Iran Press Service.
In the central city of Esfahan, hojatoleslam Ali Fallahian, the former Intelligence Minister nicknamed by the independent press as "Master Key" because of central role he is alleged to have played in the assassination of more than 80 Iranian political and intellectual dissidents inside and outside Iran between 1989 and 1993 when Mr. Rafsanjani was president, got less than 30.000 votes out of around 600.000 ballots.
"Mr. Rafsanjani is in a shaky and fragile position and even if he makes his way into the house, he would never be the same man as he was before, having lost all the credits he used to enjoy", observed one Tehran journalist.
Considered as one of the status symbol and a pillar of the Islamic Republic and considering that he was endorsed by the conservatives, including the leader, the knocking out of Mr. Rafsanjani means also both another nail in the coffin of the present theocratic regime and another blast for Mr. Khameneh'i", he added.
The silence observed in the conservative camp was matched with the enthusiasm of the reformists, where officials of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the flag carrier of the 23 May coalition that support president Khatami said their candidates had obtained more than 65 per cent of the expressed votes.
Even the hard line afternoon daily "Keyhan", the mouthpiece of the Intelligence Ministry acknowledged the defeat of the ruling hard liners.
"Majles is conquered" announced the liberal "Fath", the new daily that has replaced Khordad, Mr. Nouri's influential and popular newspaper closed down by the leader-controlled Judiciary.
Acting as he had not been personally smacked by the voters, Mr. Khameneh'i, in a statement broadcast Saturday by Tehran Radio, thanked the Almighty for having heard his "humble prier to give him and Islam a heavy turn out, and the Iranians for having once again punched the world arrogance (the United States), the enemies of Islam, the revolution and Imam" (grand ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini).
He had done exactly the same thing after the resounding defeat of hojatoleslam Ali Akbar Nateq Nouri, his candidate in the presidential election of May 1997 at the hands of the relatively unknown hojatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, thanking God to gave him 30 million votes, regardless of the fact that Mr. Khatami had received more than 23 millions and the conservative Nateq Nouri 7 millions.
Mr. Khatami also congratulated the population for its massive turn out and the support they so wholeheartedly reserved for reformists.
However, observers cautioned against too much optimism, pointing out that the Council of Guardians, a watchdog institution controlled by Mr. Khatami has to confirm the validity of the votes. "In rural areas and small towns where conservatives, independents and reformists are running neck to neck, it is easy to change few votes", they pointed out.
With the new Majles to start working officially on second of June, the second round of election would take place in the last week of April.
Covered by hundreds of foreign pressmen, the outcome of the elections was generally welcomed by the international community. "This (election results) would strengthen Iran's nascent democracy and we welcome it. Let's hope that Iranian rulers would hear the voice and demands of their people", said State Secretary Mrs. Madeleine Albright. ENDS ELECTIONS 19200